Category Archives: Guest Posts

The busy-ness competition

November 20, 2012 By in Guest Posts Tags: , , , , , , , 16 Comments

Today’s guest post is from one of my favourite bloggers, and a wonderful writer, Molly from Mother’s Always Right. If you want to say hello to Molly you can pop over to Facebook or Twitter.

street art

Do you ever get that feeling that you’re the busiest person of everyone you know? Because I do.  All the time.

Bumping into a mum friend as I unpack the shopping and attempt to stop my toddler hauling herself into the road: “Hi, yes fine thanks, really busy, you know how it is!” We exchange a couple of pleasantries about the life of a busy mum and nod to each other knowingly. And as she walks away I secretly think, “BUSY?! What does she know about busy?”

Chatting to a blogging friend on Twitter as I try to ignore my mountain of unanswered emails and deadlines coming out of my ears: “Oh I haven’t blogged in ages, can’t seem to find the time, you know how it is!” We exchange a few tweets about blog time management and bemoan our lack of thinking space. And as she tweets off with someone else I secretly think, “BUSY?! What does she know about busy?” Continue reading →

Who makes a material world?

November 19, 2012 By in Guest Posts Tags: , , , , , 6 Comments

Today’s guest post os from Donna, who can be found rambling, ranting and generally sounding off at Mummy Central. She is the mum of two boys, wife of Mr G and in the top four funniest people in her household. You can say hello on Facebook or on Twitter. 

anti capitalist graffiti

The moaning has started at the school gates already.

With thoughts turning to Christmas shopping, it’s the usual stuff you hear at this time of year.

“I just don’t know how I’m going to afford it.”

“We’ve bought out the entire toy shop.”

“I’ve never known such a spoiled child.”

The general gist is the same.

Mums and Dads complaining about how much they are being forced to spend on their offspring. Continue reading →

Biking for Babies

November 18, 2012 By in Guest Posts Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 2 Comments

So, can I introduce myself? I’m the Reverend Dougie Burnett, a minister with the United Reformed Church in Bristol. Next April with my two daughters, Isabella and Lucy, I shall be taking on the London to Paris bike ride for the charity PiggyBankKids.  This is in the way of seeking monies for our fundraising (we have pledged to raise £4500 between the three of us), but also to espouse the work of a very worthwhile charity.

Triathlon

If you’re a regular reader of DorkyMum you might have come across PiggyBankKids already. Remember the loose coins collection of a couple of months ago? OK, so we are talking the same charity. PiggyBankKids is all about changing children’s lives. Founded in 2002 by Sarah Brown it seeks to inspire professionals to continue their world-changing work in saving and transforming lives. This takes different shapes and forms in this country and around the world. First up is the Jennifer Brown Research Laboratory, based at the prestigious Queen’s Medical Research Institute in Edinburgh and is uniquely focused on both pregnancy and neonatal research. Next there are the partnership projects. From mentoring programmes to sports provision, children’s cancer care to school-based projects it is all there, with a particular focus on mentoring. Finally there is education for all. PiggyBankKids is expanding, taking their commitment to the most vulnerable children outside of the UK and into a global context. We have chosen to focus on the second of the Millenium Development Goals, set in 2000, in which the global community committed to universary primary education by 2015. Continue reading →

Playing the System

November 17, 2012 By in Guest Posts Tags: , 2 Comments

Today’s guest post is from a friend who works in a nursery, and for that reason she has chosen not to put her name to it. If anyone has experience working in a childcare setting, I’m sure she would appreciate thoughts and advice.

graffiti in children's playground

I have worked with children for a while now. I’m not really fussed by it all now – I am pretty much used to the whole thing of having children attached to some part of me whether I am at home, with family or at work.

After this amount of time you can’t help but notice little things that children do, and you find yourself always comparing them to others. Continue reading →

A Birth Story

November 16, 2012 By in Guest Posts Tags: , , , 4 Comments

Today’s guest post is from Rachel – an old university friend who has recently started blogging as Yumbeemum – and it moved me to tears the first time I read it. Rachel’s a new mum who primarily writes about beauty products (as she says, ‘I need them now more than ever!’), but also has an interest in writing about parenting, education and politics. 

newborn baby

I’m doing something that I was never able to do when I was pregnant. Watching One Born Every Minute. And it is absolutely amazing. When I was pregnant I abstained from watching it as I was determined not to frighten myself. People told me about it anyway though; for some reason, scaring pregnant ladies is a light-hearted past time for many women. I have to say so many of the labours sounded horrific- huge babies, episiotomies, 3 day labours… the list went on. Little did I know that had the Channel Four team been at St John’s, mine would have definitely featured. Continue reading →